Between you and the wired world stands a phalanx of batteries. Use 'em, toss 'em out - it's the great battery way. While NiCad rechargeables have been around for years, they have memory problems, a lower charge capacity than alkalines, and contain toxic cadmium.
Rayovac wants to end your pump 'em and dump 'em ways with their new Renewal Reusable Alkaline batteries. Rayovac claims the batteries can be recharged on average more than 25 times in common use before they die.
The reusable alkaline's architecture provides the steady discharge curve and higher energy capacity of regular alkalines. The catch, if you call it one, is that you need one of Rayovac's Renewal Power Station rechargers, available in either a US$15 portable wall unit that holds four AAA and AA batteries, or a US$30 table-top model that simultaneously resuscitates eight D, C, AA, or AAA batteries.
So, do they work? We tested AA and AAA Renewal batteries using a portable wall recharger unit. In a juice-sucking portable CD player we topped over five hours of use on the first charge and a bit less in three more subsequent tests. In comparison, a pair of fully charged NiCads, already used for approximately fifteen cycles, managed only a fraction over an hour before giving up the ghost.
- Rich Santalesa
Rayovac Corporation: (800) 237 7000, +1 (608) 275 3340.
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